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There are some DM”s who pride themselves on how many characters they”ve killed, or how many total party kills they”ve had. To me there is no sense of pride in having killed one or more characters. And I don”t see it as a goal that I am working to

succeed at killing everyone.

This is not to say I won”t kill a character.

(Ilea turned to stone by a beholder. Sadi bitten in half by a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton. Alek”s head crushed by a fire giant. Sadi blown to bits by an evil sorcerer. Indira blown to bits by a beholder”s eye stalk.)

Or that every character shouldn”t be worried about dying. (Cinder dragged underwater by a sea monster. Myntilly grappled by two chokers. Ian grappled by a tarry demon. Acgar singled out by a black dragon. Indira and Brus embroiled in a column of flame.)

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But death in Dungeon and Dragons is so…done. It lacks creativity. Not only this, it is not even a difficult obstacle to overcome. All you need is a night”s rest and 10,000gp worth of diamonds. Bah.

So much more interesting to put the party to sleep and have them wake up in a dark cavern tied up, naked, and bereft of gear. Or casino online to teleport them 500 miles away to a barren desert. Or capture one of the characters and take her to places unknown. Or capture two characters and take them to two different places.

Buzz said it best in his post about the beholder. Sure, the beholder could just eat the bear, or use its finger of death eyestalk and that would be it. But no, the beholder is truly evil. Instead charm the bear and make everyone work hard. Put the strongest, beefiest hitter to sleep. Distract, hinder, confuse, and otherwise wield chaos on the players to suit the beholder”s own evil whims.

In fact, now that I mention it, is anyone wondering why the beholder didn”t play for keeps? I mean really, with 9 eyestalks (one is missing), it has 9 attacks each round. That”s enough for each character to get hit each round. Sure the save DC of 18 is reasonably low. But roll low on them and the character is incapacitated or dead. Come to think of it, that beholder didn”t really use all of his attacks each round.

3 Comments

Don’t forget poor Buzz got to 3 hit points. The charm spell is what you call adding insult to injury. The game is so intense *because* there are things worse than death. I will never forget Cinder and the sea monster. Holy crap, that was quite a night.